Brainy Barker becomes Stretch-A-Mutt
by Chaoticlover
Summary: Brainy Barker gains a new body and not only has a hard time adjusting to it, but then begins falling in love with Stretch-O-Mutt.
1. The Trap

Chapter 1 - The Trap

"Brainy, we're approaching Mechanikat's home planet of Catopia." Krypto communicated with Brainy Barker via the communicator in his space suit. "But you probably noticed that already!"

Krypto dodged one of Mechanikat's catbots, this particular design being adapted to move and battle in deep space, and destroyed it with a heat vision blast. The Dog Stars followed after him in their own ship, and tried to give him some coverage as the superdog advanced at the first line of attack.

"Be careful, Krypto. We already knew we wouldn't be able to surprise Mechanikat, so a full force attack is our best option; yet it's also the riskiest move." Brainy talked back, the mentalist canine supervising both Krypto's advance and the other Dog Stars' preparations.

"We're ready, Brainy." Mammoth Mutt, already in her own space suit, nodded at her leader.

"Good. The ship will be on autopilot once we enter Catopia, so we can enter Mechanikat's homebase. Krypto will stay in space to fight Mechanikat's sentinel robots and to capture him in case he escapes from us." Brainy didn't mention she also wanted to keep Krypto in space instead of helping them with the capture since she knew Mechanikat had several special traps designed specifically for Krypto, from red sunlight energy lasers to kryptonite powered robots.

"We're in position now!" Hot Dog said while he and the others entered the battle pods. Brainy nodded and told Krypto they would be attacking now before going to her own pod.

"Ready to launch!" Bulldog grinned before Stretch-O-Mutt bounced next to him... morphing his front paws into a spoon and a fork.

"Alright! We're starting with soup or salad?"

"I said LAUNCH, not LUNCH." Bulldog rolled his eyes. Stretch gave him a sheepish grin and went to his own pod while Hot Dog groaned and rolled his eyes at Tusky Husky.

"Why we couldn't get Ace instead?"

"Because he's Batman's dog. In other words, if we bring him here, we'd do nothing but sit back while he does everything, eh." Tusky chuckled while Hot Dog groaned yet nodded.

A minute later, the battle pods were launched from the ship, and Krypto attacked all the catbots trying to stop them. Soon, the pods launched on Mechanikat's homebase, or, more precisely, crash-landed, making huge holes on the rooftop and already causing some severe damage.

"Alright, Dogstars, hit hard and fast!" Brainy jumped out of her pod and hit a dozen catbots with a telekinetic blast. A moment later, all her companions were attacking as well, with Mammoth Mutt and Stretch doing a double bouncing ball attack that created an opening in Mechanikat's defenses. The rest of the attack force followed after them, with Brainy using her telekinesis to impulse the 'balls' and make them bounce harder and faster while the other dogs covered her back.

"I sense Mechanikat's presence. His main chamber is in front of us." Brainy said while using her telekinesis to levitate herself a bit higher than usual to dodge a kryptonite laser that emerged from the wall; obviously, not being Kryptonian, she wouldn't be as affected as Krypto, but the laser was still hot enough to cause severe injuries. Tusky then destroyed the laser while Hot Dog created a firewall behind them to stop any catbot chasing after the group.

"Hey, it's closed." Stretch stated the obvious as he and Mammoth Mutt bounced on the heavily protected metal door.

"Then, someone must knock the door. Bulldog, can you do the honors?" Brainy nodded at her companion, who grinned back at her before charging full force at the door. Since it was designed to stop, or at least, delay Krypto, Bulldog only managed to dent it slightly, but it was enough to make a very small opening on it, that Brainy could then enlarge it with her telekinesis.

"Alright, let's make some Cat-becue!" Hot Dog, grinning, entered the chamber the first, and started shooting flames at random... which proved to be a mistake since the catbots in this particular room were designed to explode when damaged. Brainy had to create a psychic force field to protect the rest of her team from the explosions while Hot Dog received the full force; luckily, being a pyrokinetic canine, his body could resist the explosions' heat, but the concussive force was still enough to knock him out.

"Tusky, protect Hot Dog. The rest of us, let's continue." Brainy levitated Hot Dog to move him out of the Dogstars' path and gently drop him in front of Tusky, who nodded at her and started attending his friend.

"Explosive robots... whoa, Mechanikat really invested in home security." Mammoth Mutt commented, trying to keep her mind in the mission but still visibly shaken and worried about Hot Dog's condition.

"Remember Mechanikat designed his security system specifically to defend himself from Krypto. All the traps and robots were made to hurt, slow down, or even kill a Kryptonian; that's why I didn't want him to come with us. And that's also why I asked Stretch-O-Mutt to come as back-up, since Mechanikat has the least experience dealing with him and therefore not ready to battle an elastically powered superhero."

As if trying to confirm her point, Stretch morphed himself into a rubbery yet thick shield to protect his friends from a machine gun's fire; while a machine gun looked very primitive compared with most of Mechanikat's equipment, this gun was held by a catbot, and it fired kryptonite bullets.

"Ow-ow-ow-ow... they burn!" Stretch groaned. His body protected him from serious damage but such heavy fire was enough to cause some serious discomfort.

"Allow me!" Bulldog dodged the machine gun's fire and hit the catbot square in the chest (or what seemed to be the chest), destroying the robot immediately. "Seriously, where does Mechanikat get all this kryptonite? It's supposed to be a rare thing, not something you buy at the local pharmacy."

"Maybe he gets it on Krypton." Mammoth Mutt shrugged as the group continued advancing. Bulldog was about to correct her, mentioning Krypton was long gone, but then remembered that the whole planet was now reduced to huge, radioactive kryptonite chunks, so a villain with access to radiation-resistant robots like Mechanikat wouldn't have much problem mining several tons of the dangerous mineral whenever he felt like it. In other words, Mechanikat's base probably had enough kryptonite to kill Krypto a hundred times.

After advancing for almost a whole minute without getting attacked, the Dog Stars had to stop running because the whole corridor in front of them had lasers aiming at the group; however, instead of shooting directly at the canines, the lasers formed what seemed to be a beams barrier, advancing against the heroes, and a similar one appeared behind them, trapping the Dog Stars between them.

"We have to get out of here before we get sliced and diced!" Bulldog said in alarm while looking for a way out. Brainy made a quick telepathic scan of the area and found out the main wires that conducted the lasers' energy.

"Stretch, hit the panel at the end of the corridor; destroy it completely."

"I'm on it!" Stretch grinned and a moment later proved why his powers were a great asset to this mission, as he could dodge the laser beams better than any other dog by bending and stretching his body in all sorts of positions. Soon, he was the other side of the barrier, and, after morphing his front paws into hammers, he crushed the panel Brainy indicated him, effectively short-circuiting the lasers in front of the Dog Stars, who now could run (or float, in Brainy's case) away from the beams behind them.

The next obstacle was very unexpected; a huge mecha suit, with enough weaponry to take down a small country... and more unexpected, the one controlling it was...

"Snooky?" Bulldog wide opened his eyes when recognizing the midget cat in the robot's control cabin.

"That's right. Do you like Mechanikat's new toy? He is even allowing me to give it a test drive." Snooky grinned while aiming the weapons at the dogs.

"A short cat using a giant suit... whoa, and I thought I was using my power to overcompensate." Mammoth Mutt grinned yet still gasped when Snooky shot the first mini-missile at the dogs. All of them got out of the way barely on time.

Snooky continued shooting at the canines with practically everything in his arsenal, and without Hot Dog, the Dog Stars lacked their main long-range attacker, so they were now on the run and escaping the attacks by mere inches.

"Enough of this." Brainy concentrated and gave a series of instructions to her companions, all of them executing her plan immediately.

Mammoth Mutt bounced around the mecha at high speed, getting Snooky's attention, so he didn't notice when Stretch pounced on him and stretched his body to the max to get the robotic suit in an anaconda-like grip. Snooky then used one of the suit's defenses, an electric field, to try and get rid of Stretch, but his rubbery body was pretty much resistant to this particular defense and, by the time the voltage was just too much even for the elastic canine to stand, Snooky had used most of the robot's energy and many of the systems started failing. Then, Brainy levitated Bulldog, and used her companion as a projectile, the horned dog hitting the mecha's chest with great force, taking it down. Snooky, out of desperation, tried to shoot another missile, this time aiming at Brainy, but Mammoth Mutt hit the launcher at the last moment, which made the projectile to miss its target, and gave Brainy the opportunity to get a telekinetic hold on it.

"You know what people say, Snooky; karma is a female dog. In this case, myself." Brainy couldn't help but smirk a bit while sending the missile back at the mecha. Snooky yelped in fear and activated his ejector seat.

**BOOM!**

The missile hit the mecha and obliterated it, with Snooky getting ejected out at the last moment.

**WHAM!**

Snooky obviously forgot the mecha was down at the moment, and therefore the ejection didn't send him up, but to the side... and with a wall right ahead.

"Good thiiiiiing... we c-cats... have nine lives..." A very dizzy Snooky walked a few steps after hitting the wall before falling down. "Of course... after this... I probably only have 2 or 3 left."

Besides providing a comedy bit, Snooky's crash landing also made a big enough hole in the wall for the dogs to pass, and this helped them avoid the rest of the corridor's traps and go right ahead to Mechanikat's chamber.

"Ah, the Dog Stars are here. Mmm... I need to improve my security system." Mechanikat, sitting in a throne-like technological chair, smirked at the heroes.

"Give up now, Mechanikat. We have you outnumbered." Brainy said to the villainous feline while Stretch-O-Mutt stretched his whole body around the room. "And now, we also have you surrounded."

"Yes, you're right... but I'm not that outnumbered." Mechanikat grinned evilly.

Brainy barely had time to summon a telekinetic force field to protect Mammoth Mutt, Bulldog and herself from a kryptonite-radiated net, launched from a hidden platform.

"Look, it's Delilah!" Mammoth looked up, spotting the feline femme fatale with the net launcher on her paws.

"And here I thought only Krypton had super vision powers." Delilah smirked before changing the weapon's settings from 'net launcher' to 'machine gun'. Again, Brainy used her force field to protect herself and her companions from the radioactive bullets.

"Yes, maybe you pups aren't as vulnerable to Kryptonite as your super mutt buddy, but you're not invulnerable either and those bullets are pretty effective." Mechanikat grinned and then, when Stretch was trying to catch him lasso-style (his body being the lasso), the cyborg feline pushed a button in his techno-chair, now protecting himself with a personal force field that gave Stretch a painful shock. "And as you can see, I can copy your tricks, Brainy."

The shock made Stretch to retract back to his normal shape. Delilah lost no time and started shooting at him; Mammoth Mutt changed to her ball form and bounced at her, distracting the feline female from her assault and giving time for Bulldog to grab Stretch-O-Mutt and take him out of the line of fire. However, Mechanikat wasn't kidding about copying his enemies' tricks, and the next button he pushed unleashed several cyber-balls that started bouncing on the walls at high speed; with each bounce, the balls gained speed, and therefore the impacts became more dangerous. Mechanikat himself was well protected by his force field, and Delilah covered herself with the platform, but the Dog Stars were in serious danger. The only hero with a minor injury risk was Brainy, but whenever the balls bounced on the force field it made them move faster and therefore endangered her companions even more.

"Oh, I hate karma.. specially when it bounces back at me!" Mammoth Mutt tried to dodge the balls, but even with her body's increased resistance to impacts when in ball form, the impacts were actually hurting her, plus messing up with her own bouncing so she couldn't continue attacking. Stretch-O-Mutt, partially recovered from Mechanikat's surprise, morphed into a shield to protect Bulldog, but the elastic canine was getting to his limits as well, not to mention that his body was having the same effect that Brainy's force field, and every ball he bounced back returned with greater force a moment later.

"Karma can help us too, Mammoth Mutt." Brainy deactivated her force field and used her telekinesis to grab Delilah's weapon. A few moments later, Brainy had changed the weapon's setting back to 'net launcher'. "And Mechanikat isn't the only one who can use an enemy's tricks."

Brainy started shooting nets at the high speed balls, and, by using her telekinesis to direct the nets' trajectory, managed to get all the balls in record time. Then, Brainy used her telekinetic hold to throw the balls-filled-nets at Mechanikat; as Brainy expected, the nets' kryptonite energy messed up with Mechanikat's force field, producing a short-circuit.

"Mmm... I should have considered your smarts when planning my traps, Brainy." Mechanikat grinned while taking out a pair of ear-plugs; without the dogs noticing it, Delilah was putting on a set of ear-plugs as well. "Oh, wait. I did consider it. Let's see how well you think when you can't hear your own thoughts."

Mechanikat activated his next weapon; an ultrasonic one. Thanks to their ear-plugs, Mechanikat and Delilah were well protected, but the dogs fell to the floor, covering their ears in horrible pain. Even Brainy was having troubles to use her powers now, as the noise didn't let her concentrate. Mechanikat grinned and pushed another button, this one calling for several of his Catbots he had prepared specially to resist ultrasonic frequencies.

"Heh... time to put these dogs to sleep. Permanently." The cyborg feline made a hand signal; with the ultrasonic weapon working, the robots wouldn't get a verbal order and the noise would mess with an electronic one, so these robots were programmed to obey visual commands. The Catbots then extended their weapons; powerful claw-like blades, and walked towards the fallen heroes.

"Ow! I don't like this music!" Stretch-O-Mutt, out of instinct, morphed his ears to form thick and very effective ear-plugs. "Ah. Much better. Hey, guys, you need... Yipes!"

Even if Stretch would never win a Nobel Prize, he wasn't as dumb as most thought, and when looking at the robots, he lost no time and morphed his paws into mallets, literally jumping into action. He started punching/malleting all the robots at full speed, still conserving his ear-plugged, and soon only a handful of robots remained. Stretch then extended one of his paws and changed it from mallet to earmuffs, protecting Brainy's ears.

"Thanks, Stretch-O-Mutt. I needed that." Brainy focused her mental powers and sent a telekinetic blast to the remaining robots and then to the room's walls, shattering the speakers/devices that produced the powerful ultrasonic attack.

"I'm really starting to hate you all." Mechanikat growled while removing his ear plugs. "Well, I'm out of tricks but one... but this one is a killer."

The cyborg cat and his throne disappeared from sight thanks to a hidden trap door. When Brainy and Stretch (Bulldog and Mammoth were still on bad conditions after the sonic attack) tried to capture him, a huge bomb emerged from the door, covering Mechanikat's escape, and, according to the counter, shortening the Dog Stars' lives to...

"**TEN SECONDS!"** Brainy gasped. She immediately recognized the bomb's design; it was too complex to disarm in such a short time, and probably powerful enough to level a city block.

"What did you say..." Delilah still at the platform, gave a look and paled in fear. "**A BOMB? MECHANIKAT, YOU JERK!"**

Obviously, Mechanikat didn't care that much about his minions' lives, and since she had her ears plugged when Mechanikat activated this final trap, she didn't hear him saying the whole 'this one is a killer' speech.

"What are we doing now?" Stretch asked in a hurry. Brainy growled softly and then levitated the elastic canine, Mammoth Mutt and Bulldog out of the room.

"**STRETCH, COVER THEM!"**

Stretch-O-Mutt reacted and did as Brainy told him, covering his companions and then thickening his body for more protection. At the same moment, Brainy formed a large telekinetic force field around the room in order to contain the explosion.

Unfortunately, for this to work, Brainy had to be inside the force field.

"**LET ME OUT, YOU STUPID...!" **Delilah tried to get past the force field but then noticed the counter was in 2. "Oh. This is gonna hurt."

**BOOOOOM!**

The explosion's shockwave was felt all over the base. It was strong enough to wake up the unconscious Snooky.

"Ngh... what did I miss?" Snooky groaned in pain; then, he went to the closest escape tunnel. He'd ask later.

When Bulldog, Mammoth Mutt and Stretch-O-Mutt finally could stand up and get back to the room, they froze on the spot. The whole place was completely devastated, and with a slight green glow; this bomb was a kryptonite one.

"W-we can't enter there... without... a radiation-proof suit." Mammoth Mutt said, holding back tears.

"And... we'll need one of those suits... for her too... right?" Stretch gulped, sweating cold rubber.

"Yes... and... who's gonna tell Hotdog and Tusky?" The little alien Chihuahua closed her eyes.

"Probably the same... that will tell Krypto."

Bulldog was out of words and was only trying to keep himself from fainting, snapping, or hitting everything on sight. The only thing capable of keeping him conscious was the sight of Brainy's immobile, charred, and radiated body, lying in the middle of the room.

The trio was so shocked by the sight of their fallen leader that none noticed the same fate had fallen on a cat that got practically no protection from the platform she was in at the moment of the explosion. She would need more than 9 lives to get better after this.


	2. The Surgery

Chapter 2 - The Surgery

"I should've been there." Krypto looked down, almost on the verge of tears.

"If you had been there, we would've had 2 patients now." Mammoth Mutt tried comforting him.

"Or... a patient and a funeral." Bulldog sighed, hating himself for thinking this.

Krypto almost replied in a very unfriendly way, but when remembering the reason Brainy Barker was currently in a stasis chamber, barely alive, and with her body almost completely destroyed, was due to a kryptonite-powered bomb, the superdog had to admit Bulldog and Mammoth Mutt were right. He wouldn't have been able to do a thing against that kind of explosion, and in fact it would be even more dangerous for him than it was for Brainy. The Dog Stars had to decontaminate Brainy's body after bringing her back to the ship, and they had to cover her body in several layers of lead-reinforced clothing just to carry her out of Mechanikat's base.

Right now, Krypto wished to be at the base, along with Hotdog, Tusky and Stretch-O-Mutt, rather than here at the ship, looking at the alien telepath's awful current state, but Krypto couldn't do it without feeling an awful pang of guilt, since, after all, Mechanikat had designed his security system to fight back a Kryptonian canine. Right now, the Dog Stars at Mechanikat's base had the main mission of finding and destroying every bit of kryptonite so Krypto could later go there and scan the place with his X-Ray vision, plus it was a very necessary 'therapy' for the three of them, especially for Hotdog, who was feeling even worse and guiltier than Krypto since he couldn't be there to help his companions during the final stages of the assault due to his injuries, and Tusky couldn't be there either because the alien Husky had to stay behind to take care of him; melting kryptonite chunks until they were completely gone was the only way Hotdog would feel a bit better about himself. Husky was collaborating by using his tusk to rip apart any wall or container separating them from the kryptonite, and Stretch went with them because he had advanced a lot more than Husky and Hotdog while attacking the place and therefore knew his way much better than them.

"The computer finished the diagnosis." Mammoth Mutt's words got Krypto and Bulldog's attention. The little alien Chihuahua almost sobbed when reading the information. "Brainy... her mind.. is still mostly intact... guess she hadn't contacted us due to the shock... but her body is almost completely destroyed. No amount of treatment or bionic prosthetics are gonna heal her."

"Then... our best chance to help her, is transferring her mind to a new body.. or to a computer chip." Bulldog looked down, not liking any option, and knowing Brainy wouldn't like them either.

"Let's wait for the others so we can discuss this." Krypto sighed. "Our options are a robotic body or cloning her a new flesh-and-bone one."

A while later, all the Dog Stars were discussing this, plus Ace and Streaky, joining the discussion via video link.

"Poor Brainy... I think you guys should give her a robotic body, so she at least gets a strong body when returning to, well... life." Streaky sighed, not liking the option that much but thinking it would be for the best.

"Probably, but this solution has some problems, Streaky." Mammoth Mutt explained him. "A robotic body might not be... adequate... for her mental powers."

"In deed. Brainy's powers need an organic brain in order to work properly. Plus, it would be very hard to live in a body that has no touch, smell or taste senses." Ace nodded. Streaky and a few of the others cringed at the thought. "Still, Streaky makes a solid point; Brainy should get a resistant body when returning. I suggest you get samples of a strong organism and clone it while transferring Brainy's brain patterns immediately after forming the clone, so the new body will have no mind of its own and she'll be capable of using it as her own without problems."

"Well... my body is very resistant..." Krypto offered but Husky interrupted him.

"And vulnerable to kryptonite, remember, eh? What if we give Brainy a body like yours and we fight Mechanikat again, eh?"

Krypto gulped a bit; the idea of losing Brainy TWICE would be too much, especially if there was no way to know if she'd survive a second encounter with the deadly mineral.

"Mmm... my body resists a lot too." Stretch-O-Mutt pointed out while patting his own back. "And it's rubbery, so we can make it look like Brainy's old body."

"So, you're performing a... plastic surgery?" Streaky grinned a bit at this while all the dogs minus Stretch (who didn't get the joke) arched an eyebrow at him.

"Streaky's bad attempts at humor aside... that's actually a pretty good idea." Ace commented. "In fact, Stretch-O-Mutt's unique biology might make it perfect for cloning, since it would adapt to genetic manipulation much more easily than any other option, and that would prevent clone decay. We don't need Brainy's body to become a Bizarro."

"A what?" Hotdog scratched his head in confusion; a few of the other dogs didn't know this either.

"A Bizarro; it's an imperfect clone. It has all the powers of the original but looks quite ugly and it often comes with some sort of brain damage. Superman had fought with his own several times." Krypto informed them. "Actually, it's a good thing you mentioned it, Ace; that just makes clearer that I wouldn't be a good DNA donor for cloning, because Kryptonian DNA is pretty complex and hard to manipulate."

"It's settled then. We'll make the clone with Stretch-O-Mutt's DNA. We need a sample." Mammoth Mutt went to retrieve a test tube to collect some of Stretch's hair and saliva.

"And I'll go get some of the experimental elastic solution that gave Stretch-O-Mutt his powers, so we can have enough material for an adult clone." Krypto proposed.

"I'll make a few calls so we can get the equipment and the scientific assistance..." Hotdog was interrupted again by Ace.

"I can supervise the procedure. You only need to get the equipment." Ace offered himself. "You can pick me up when you come get the elastic material."

"You know about cloning?" Bulldog gasped.

"Of course he does. He's the dog-dam Batman's dog." Streaky grinned.

"Partner." Ace corrected the cat.

"Aw, thanks, Ace, but I'm already Krypto's partner. Still, I appreciate the thought." Streaky smiled at Ace, who just rolled his eyes and, very wisely, decided not to try correcting Streaky again and focus at the task at hand.

A couple hours later, Ace already had enough of the plastic substance, and he and Streaky were waiting for their 'ride'; the Dog Stars' ship. Soon, they were on board, and Ace was helping the others at installing the cloning device, that the Dog Stars had picked up on their way back to Earth; Krypto also made a quick flight to Superman's fortress to get a few components that would accelerate the procedure. Paw Pooch, who hadn't been with the others through the mission due to being attending other issues, was now with them, and helping Ace and Krypto at adapting the Kryptonian technology to the cloning device.

"I hope Brainy doesn't mind waking up as a male." Paw Pooch commented as they continued working on the final steps.

"That's another benefit from using Stretch-O-Mutt's DNA; its plasticity will allow quick and easy modifications, including the new body's gender." Ace explained. "Okay, we're good to go."

The cloning device hummed for a few seconds before it finally started showing visible progress at forming the body. It started as some sort of rubbery ball, the size of a ping-pong ball, and after a few seconds it grew the size of Streaky; some minutes later, it was already the size of Brainy's original body, and had started shaping into into a canine form.

While all this happened, Mammoth Mutt and Krypto discharged Brainy's mind into the Dog Stars' ship's computer, and when Ace told them the new body had already developed a functional nervous system and the brain was big enough, Brainy's mind got discharged into the clone's brain. The moment the 'discharge' was complete, Brainy's telekinetic and telepathic powers took control of the whole procedure, as she started morphing her new body to resemble her old one. The only visible difference was the color scheme, with Brainy developing an orange hairdo with a white streak and black ears, similar to Stretch's, and once the 'hair' was complete, her nose morphed as well, looking exactly like Stretch-O-Mutt's clownish one.

"Wow. She looks a lot like me... well, she's prettier, of course, but you get the point." Stretch-O-Mutt commented while staring at the morphing body.

"That reminds me, she's gonna need a suit that adapts to her new stretching powers, eh." Husky said... and saw that Ace was already taking out a blue suit.

"Identical to Stretch-O-Mutt's. Of course, Brainy can later change the color if she wants."

"Okay, really, where did you keep that suit all this time?" Hotdog groaned even if he was obviously impressed at this.

"My collar; it works like Batman's utility belt." Ace told him. "Besides, this is an elastic suit; it can be compressed to be smaller than a tennis ball."

"You have a tennis ball in there too?" Bulldog asked; Ace then took out (what else?) a tennis ball, and threw it at Bulldog, who grinned and started playing with it.

"Aliens or Earthlings, dogs will be dogs." Ace shrugged before looking back at the cloning chamber.

"I really want one of those collars for Christmas." Hotdog whispered at Husky while they both got back to seeing the chamber too... and resisting the impulse of playing with the ball.

Finally, almost 20 minutes after the procedure started, Brainy, in her new body, started moving; first it was just little moves, like moving her toes and slightly wagging her new black tail, but soon she started moving just like anyone who is waking up after a long night of sleep.

"I have to say this." Streaky cleared his throat. "It's alive... IT'S ALIVE!"

The dogs were so happy (even if Ace didn't show it) at Brainy finally reacting that they didn't mind Streaky's antics for once. The telepath finally opened her eyes and saw everyone in the room staring at her.

"What... what happened..." Brainy then got a slight headache and tried to remember what had happened. Ace told the Dog Stars to open the chamber, and then, Bat Hound placed a paw on Brainy's shoulder.

"Brainy, look inside my head; you'll see what happened." Ace nodded at her. Brainy, using her powers, that luckily weren't affected by the body change, gave Ace's recent memory a quick scan, and in a few moments she knew exactly what had happened.

"My body... my old body... Oh." Brainy stopped using her powers, and allowed Ace and Krypto to help her out of the chamber.

"Yes, sorry we couldn't..." Bulldog was silenced by Brainy's gentle stare.

"I know. It wasn't your fault. Nobody's to blame here but Mechanikat. I'm deeply grateful with you all for providing me with a new body." Brainy then smiled at Stretch-O-Mutt. "Thank you for the DNA donation, Stretch-O-Mutt."

"You're very welcome." Stretch blushed a bit at her smile. "Ace helped a lot too."

"My partner and I also have to thank Wayne-Tech for keeping a good amount of the elastic substance." Ace nodded.

"Now I'd like to see what I look like, you know get to know the new me." Brainy said to her companions. Streaky, at super speed, dashed to Mammoth Mutt's room, and returned with a good sized mirror.

"You can use this one. And I like your room, Mammoth Mutt; nice toys." Streaky smiled at the now embarrassed Chihuahua.

"Thanks... I guess." Mammoth Mutt was silently thankful that Streaky wasn't telling the others what these toys were; sure, all the dogs had chewing toys at their rooms, but she doubted anyone else had a pink ducky.

Brainy gave herself a good look; she actually liked the changes. Then, by using her telekinesis, she attracted the new suit Ace brought for her, and dressed herself up in a split second.

"I'm glad I conserved my old powers, but..." Brainy smiled while stretching her neck to giraffe size, "I think these new ones can come in very useful."

"Yeah, you can form hands with them. Look." Stretch-O-Mutt, grinning, morphed his dog paws into large hands and started clapping with them.

"Great. Another comedian; and this one does body humor." Ace said in his usual stoic tone even if Krypto actually grinned when his super hearing detected a hint of a chuckle.

Unknown to everyone, including the super-sensed Krypto and Streaky, a little spy-bot, specially designed to get past their abilities, had taped the whole thing, and was transmitting it to a very diabolical guy who was needing a way to solve a similar problem; and he was more than pleased with the information.

A few moments later, on Earth, a certain small-sized cat entered Wayne-Tech via the air vents, and soon found the room where the scientists kept the rubbery substance his master needed.

"I found it, Mechanikat. How much do we need?" Snooky contacted his master via a communicator in the collar he was currently wearing.

"Enough for a medium-sized cat, Snooky. Luckily, Delilah isn't as big as Brainy Barker. " Mechanikat replied while keeping an eye both on his monitors and in the stasis cell he had prepared for Delilah, his female minion being in the same awful state Brainy was after the explosion.

After escaping his base, Mechanikat contacted his minions to see if they could escape too; Snooky managed to do it, but Delilah never replied; Mechanikat deduced she had probably died in the explosion, but, once his spy-bots confirmed that Brainy Barker had survived, even if just barely, the evil cyborg deduced Delilah might be in similar conditions. The cyborg feline then ordered Snooky to get back and retrieve Delilah's body before the Dog Stars returned to dismantle the whole place; at first, Mechanikat considered getting rid of Delilah, but then decided to turn her into an obedient cyborg... that is, until his other spy-bot helped him find out how the Star Dogs were saving Brainy. Even Mechanikat had to admit their plan was ingenious, and if a 'clownish fool like Stretch-O-Mutt' could actually be a decent foe when focusing enough, then Brainy Barker would be quite formidable if having both her old powers and new elastic abilities, so Mechanikat decided to do the same with Delilah, who was more than used to fight super-powered enemies without having powers of her own, so, if having elastic powers plus the weapons Mechanikat could provide her, she'd be a very powerful minion.

"Okay, Snooky is coming back with the rubber for your new body, Delilah." Mechanikat talked to the still unconscious femme feline while taking out a test tube. "And I checked out your room; this tube has some of your hairballs, and that will provide me with the DNA that, combined with the plastic substance, will allow me to create a perfect clone of you, just with elastic abilities."

Unlike Brainy Barker, Delilah lacked mental powers, so she wouldn't be able to use her mental energy to shape her new body into a perfect copy of the original right after discharging her mind, so Mechanikat would need to create a flesh-and-bone body for Delilah and then infuse it with the plastic substance, unlike the Dog Stars, who only needed to add a bit of Stretch-O-Mutt's DNA to the substance to make it adequate enough for Brainy Barker's powers to end the job.

"Hope you don't mind getting a new body. Think of it as... plastic surgery. Great, I'm making those awful puns too; I'd been spying on Streaky for too long." Mechanikat groaned. "Well, the good thing about being a villainous boss is that I don't really care what you do think. You can't even listen to me right now."

"No, but I do."

Mechanikat groaned when hearing Snooky's voice.

"You're never telling anyone I said that lame joke, understood?"

"No... but I gotta tell you, I made an important discovery."

"What? New technology?" Mechanikat grinned at the idea.

"No... new watch dogs. **OW! OUCH! MEOW! DOWN, DOWN, BOY, DOWN... OH, GREAT, THIS ONE IS A GIRL! MEOWCH!**"

Mechanikat rolled his organic eye and face-palmed before sighing and getting back to work on the preparations for Delilah's mind transfer... and get the first aids kit for Snooky.


	3. Elastic Tutelage

Chapter 3 - Elastic Tutelage

After a few minutes, Brainy was already comfortable enough with her new body, but even someone as smart as herself wouldn't master the whole capacity of her new powers without proper training, and, of course, Brainy was smart enough to realize this even before Stretch-O-Mutt volunteered to teach her.

"I'd been practicing with my powers ever since I got them." The elastic male said to Brainy. "I might not be a genius like you but..."

"Don't underestimate yourself, Stretch-O-Mutt." Brainy smiled at him. "I have seen you in action, and you definitely are an expert at using your own powers. I'll be more than thankful and honored of having you as my teacher."

"Wow... thanks." Stretch smiled back and then got a slightly thoughtful expression. "But we need some space for training. I usually do it at some park or another open space so I don't break things by accident."

"We have a training room here on the ship, eh." Husky told him. "Since it's a first session, you don't need a lot to practice, right, eh?"

"No, just a place where we can stretch and move without ruining the furniture." Stretch replied.

"The training room has more than enough space. We can start the lessons whenever you want." Brainy said to a nodding Stretch-O-Mutt, and a few minutes later they were in the room, doing some 'stretching exercises'.

"First , stretch your entire body so you can be ready for all the shapeshifting. Even if your body now can stand a lot of pain, you can still hurt yourself if you don't warm up before practicing."

Brainy did as her 'mentor' said, and started stretching her entire body, mimicking Stretch-O-Mutt's moves; after a few moments, Brainy's full torso was longer than an anaconda's body, and her neck and limbs were longer than a giraffe's. Stretch, who had the same body at that moment, followed up the 'joke' by morphing his face to look like a giraffe's.

"I like this animal; not just a long neck but also a long tongue." Stretch-O-Mutt half-joked before opening his mouth and using his tongue to clean up his own ears. Brainy couldn't help but laugh a bit at this, while still impressed that Stretch-O-Mutt, usually considered as smart as a rubber ball, actually knew that real giraffes were capable of doing this.

"Come on, try yourself. It's fun." Stretch-O-Mutt grinned at Brainy.

"Stretch-O-Mutt, this is training, not a..."

"Brainy, I'm your teacher, right?" Stretch-O-Mutt arched an eyebrow at Brainy, who nodded at him after a moment. "Well, all the teachers have their own methods; if I were Ace, I'd be giving you a very serious lecture that only the both of you would understand; Krypto would take you to some nice, far away spot so you could practice with him correcting your mistakes in a nice way; and Streaky would be teaching you with the whole 'you do well and you eat a snack' thing... I'd like to have him as a teacher." Stretch chuckled a bit at this. "And my training/teaching way is like this, make it a game. If you're gonna use your powers all the time, the least you can do is have fun while using them."

Even if Brainy, and basically every responsible superhero out there, knew she had a very serious responsibility, she knew that Stretch-O-Mutt had a fair point. She knew that all her companions used their powers for fun when not training or fighting crime; they used HotDog's powers a week ago when they had a barbecue. Krypto also used his powers in his daily life, mostly to play with his human, Kevin, and Streaky often used his powers for fishing or just to fly at some private spot for a nap; even Ace, as stoic as he was, really enjoyed using his adapted Batwing to fly around Gotham. Brainy rarely used her powers for fun since, being a telepath, she was just too responsible to spy on other sentient beings' minds for entertainment, but now that she also had elastic powers, and seeing how much Stretch-O-Mutt enjoyed his own abilities, Brainy decided she could allow herself some fun with her new powers. Besides, refusing to do it would pretty much be the equivalent of disobeying her mentor's indications.

Brainy stretched her tongue and, a few moments later, once she got to control its moves, started cleaning up her own ears with it, and then massaging/licking around her neck.

"Mmm... I must admit... this is quite enjoyable." Brainy used her telepathy to communicate with Stretch since, obviously, her tongue was busy at the time.

"Heh, told you. And good thing you can still use your mind-talking thing. Sometimes I forget to get my tongue back to normal before talking again." Stretch-O-Mutt chuckled before enlarging his tongue again. "And I end pthspeaking like PthSylvester The Cat."

Brainy had to morph back to normal to stop herself from falling and tangling herself due to the the laugh attack she got at Stretch-O-Mutt's talking. She laughed even harder when Stretch actually morphed himself into a Sylvester's clone.

"PthStreaky likepths thipths trick too, but he doesphtsn't laughpths apths much as you."

"O-okay, okay, I get it... please, change back to normal before I have an accident here..." Brainy said between laughs.

"Oh, right; and this room has no newspapers on the floor." Stretch-O-Mutt chuckled a bit while morphing back to normal. "You have a nice laugh; why don't you laugh more often."

Brainy took a deep breath to calm down and then talked again in her usual, more calm way.

"I'm the leader of the Dog Stars, Stretch-O-Mutt. Even if I can have a good time and relax with my companions, it's expected that I'll be the most serious one around, since my responsibilities are the most serious as well. I'm responsible for everyone's life."

"Oh... yeah... Ace is like that too... but still, Krypto has the most responsibilities of all of us, and he can be serious but he never stops smiling unless things go really bad." Stretch-O-Mutt pointed out.

"That's because Krypto isn't just a responsible hero; he's also the one everyone looks up to, and not just because he can fly. He has a reputation not just as a hero, but as Superman's dog; that's why Krypto is both the most responsible hero and everyone's friend, and because of that he has to be more... friendly and easier to relate with than Ace or myself."

"I see... well, the point is, as long as I'm your teacher, I'll try to make the lessons fun for the both of us." Stretch-O-Mutt then took a deep breath and started inflating himself. "This is a funny trick. Try it."

Brainy nodded at him and started taking deep breaths herself; she had seen Mammoth Mutt in action enough times to know that a balloon/ball shape could be more useful than most would think. A minute later, both Brainy and her mentor were floating around the room, and even bouncing on each other a few times, making the 'lesson' more like a game.

"Now, try becoming a ball." Stretch-O-Mutt then became a smaller sphere, much denser than the balloon, and started bouncing around the room. Brainy, taking full advantage of her mental powers, gave his mind a quick 'read' when he morphed into a ball, and instantly got all the 'instructions' for this change; Brainy needed a bit more time to change into a ball, and actually hit the floor the first time instead of just bouncing, but after practicing a bit, and rolling around the room to gain speed, Brainy joined Stretch at the bouncing session.

"Okay, I think you already mastered the most basic shapes." Stretch said while he stopped bouncing. "Now, let's practice a more... uh... what's the word... complicated, yes! More complicated trick."

"Very well, Teacher." Brainy smiled as she returned to her normal shape. "What trick are we trying now?"

A moment later, Brainy felt as if she was looking at herself in a mirror; Stretch-O-Mutt had morphed into a nearly exact duplicate of herself. The only detail that revealed he was a different dog was his muzzle and eyes' color.

"I think I look pretty in this one." Stretch did his best to make a decent imitation of Brainy's voice.

"Your normal looks aren't that bad either." Brainy had to cover her mouth right after saying this. "_Why did I say that? That sounded A LOT like flirting... sure, his comment sounded a bit flirty too, but he's Stretch-O-Mutt; he says stuff like that all the time."_

"Hey, thanks." Stretch, obviously not noticing Brainy's distress, or simply not worrying at all about the comment, spoke in his normal voice before changing back to normal. "Now, you try transforming into me. I'll stay very quiet so you can concentrate."

Brainy nodded and started giving him a good look so she could morph adequately: as the telepath continued 'scanning' him, she couldn't help but admit to herself that Stretch actually was a good looking canine. It was possible that she and most of the other females hadn't noticed it previously because Stretch - O - Mutt was usually in the company of Krypto and/or Ace, two 'alpha males' with obvious great physical attractive, so Stretch's goofy aspect and powers made him look less handsome in comparison. In private, and looking at him with more detail, Brainy realized he wasn't ugly at all, and if he didn't hang around with other more serious, better-known heroes all the time, Stretch-O-Mutt's attractiveness would be a lot more obvious.

Once she finished looking at his whole body, with some help of her stretchy neck to move her head around him for a better checkup, Brainy finally felt ready to morph into Stretch-O-Mutt. It took her almost a whole minute since at times she messed up some important details, like making her ears much longer than his, or conserving her normal paw size, but the final result was pretty accurate.

"Whoa, you did great." Stretch-O-Mutt praised her. "Now, we're gonna talk at the same time, and you try to make your voice sound like mine. Remember you can change your throat's size and the length of your tongue to make a good impression."

Stretch-O-Mutt and Brainy started talking at once; nothing too complex, just the English alphabet. By the time they were at the 'M', Brainy's voice was close enough to Stretch's, and when they finished, the impression was little less than perfect.

"Say, you think my voice sounds good now?" Brainy asked him.

"Yes, a lot! It's like looking at myself in a video." Stretch smiled at her. "Now, let's walk together, side by side, so you can also walk like I do."

The next 10 minutes were pretty much like this, with Brainy mimicking Stretch-O-Mutt's each and every move, doing her best to match them. The alien female realized how complex and difficult shapeshifting could be in order to make a really good impression, since mimicking the aspect and voice was good to fool a stranger, but anyone observant enough would notice the difference if the shape shifter didn't mimic the mannerisms, accent, and body language. In that aspect, Stretch-O-Mutt was a very good actor.

"If you ever get tired of being a superhero, you have a bright career in movies and theater." Brainy, still 'in character' with Stretch-O-Mutt's aspect, commented to him.

"Heh, if I ever do that, you can come with me and we'll set up a number in Las Vegas." Stretch - O - Mutt chuckled a bit. "And thanks. Now, we're gonna practice with the other Dog Stars, and then with Ace, Krypto and Streaky."

Thanks to Brainy's personal experience with her fellow Dog Stars, including the honorary members (even Streaky), she could get the aspects and accents with little effort, but she really needed a lot of help from Stretch-O-Mutt to get the body language and personalities right. Being usually a very serious, responsible leader, Brainy had little problem with her Ace disguise, but she lacked the jokester, easy-going and often lazy personality traits to play a convincing Streaky, not to mention that, being a cat, he had mannerisms and habits very different from a dog's; the rest of the heroes were all the range in-between Ace and Streaky's difficulty levels. At times, Brainy had to ask Stretch-O-Mutt for permission to take a look in his memories so she could see how he played those roles and correct her own mistakes. Still, besides the obvious advantages of using this trick for stealth missions and to surprise an enemy, Brainy realized her elastic body would allow her to mimic several of her companions' powers to a certain degree, making herself a much more versatile fighter than in the past.

"Look, you can use your Tusky shape to get a big tusk too, eh." Stretch, currently transformed into Tusky Husky, pointed at his large tusk. "I know it's not as hard as the real one, but you can harden and file the tusk so it can still be useful as a weapon, eh."

"I see what you mean, eh." Brainy, in the same shape, was now using her oversized tusk to scratch the metal floor. It certainly didn't penetrate as deeply as Tusky's original tusk, but it certainly did much more than a normal dog tooth.

"You can make your neck stronger so you can bite harder, eh." Stretch suggested her. Brainy did just that and the result was much better than before; she was probably getting a harder bite than any dog minus Tusky himself and Krypto.

"These powers are very versatile." Brainy said while getting back to her normal shape; she started rubbing her jaw when, suddenly, she had the idea to transform her paw into a hand, something that allowed a better, more comfortable rubbing, pretty much like a massage. Brainy then looked at her hand and got an idea.

"You think I can try an idea of mine for shape-shifting?"

"Sure, go nuts. Remember, this is training but you can have fun." Stretch-O-Mutt encouraged her and, to make his point, he transformed into a huge nut.

Brainy rolled her eyes yet smiled, and then started using what she had learned from Stretch-O-Mutt to humanize her body. After transforming her paws into human hands and feet, she stood up on her rear legs and made her body closer to human proportions; she even took a deep breath to inflate her chest and model her body into a shapely, attractive human female's. When she was done, Brainy was a stunningly beautiful anthro dog, and Stretch - O - Mutt's face became completely red.

"I think this is close enough to a regular human female's body, don't you think?" Brainy asked him.

"Uh... more like, a VERY beautiful human female, Brainy." Stretch commented, trying to hide his blush. "I mean... if the average human females you know look like this, those women's neighbors must be quite happy."

"Charming." Brainy grinned a bit before getting a bit more serious. "But you have a point. The thing is, most of the human females I've seen are the ones from Earth's documentaries and newscasts, and those are either supermodels and actresses, or metahumans... and most of them look a lot like this."

"I see... so you're getting the shape of non-super strong human female." Stretch guessed before morphing himself to copy Brainy's current body. "Something among these lines, right?"

"Mmm... guess I'd look better as a wild redhead." Brainy smiled while looking at the very accurate copy Stretch did of herself.

"You look pretty good with your normal hair." Stretch commented before morphing his hairdo, so it changed from its usual messy self to a more refined yet still normal-looking one. "Still, with your new powers, you can change that too, if you ever want."

"You should keep that hairdo. It looks nice." Brainy commented before looking at her own body again. "And back to topic... yes, this is the body of an attractive non-super strong human female. Wonder if I can change that too."

Brainy closed her eyes and made a mental image of the kind of body she'd morph now, basing it on the strongest human superheroines she had seen, like Wonder Woman and Power Girl. It took some time since it wasn't just enlarging herself, but making her muscles much denser and stronger.

"So... I did well?" Brainy asked Stretch when she finished while opening her eyes... and was a bit surprised when noticing his eyes had grown the size of his whole body. Brainy then looked at herself and understood why Stretch was so amazed; her whole body was pretty much the model of a super powerful metahuman, not just with great muscles but all of them were perfectly defined, and she still had a feminine body... in fact, as she had been thinking about Power Girl's body when modeling herself, Brainy's bust was also much bigger than average.

"Mmm... not bad at all, uh?" Brainy grinned while flexing her arms. Being a mind-powered heroine through all her career, Brainy had always been in good shape but never to an overly athletic level, so finding herself with muscles that would probably fit Krypto if he was a Kryptonian human male was a pleasant surprise.

"Y-you look great... yeah, a lot... " Stretch morphed back to normal and tried to get his cool back. "I... guess you'd want to see how strong you are now, uh?"

Brainy nodded and activated one of the training room's machines, that normally only Krypto used regularly; basically, a weight-lifting machine. Brainy started working with it, enjoying the pressure on her muscles and the satisfaction of moving progressively larger weights; the work-out routine stopped when Brainy reached a 20 tons limit, still not close to Krypto's level but definitely quite impressive. She also theorized she'd probably lift even more weight, but she'd need to increase her muscular size to do that, and Brainy considered that getting an exaggerated build would limit her mobility in a real combat situation.

"Whoa... that's pretty cool..." Stretch said while stretching his neck around her body to look at Brainy's sexy and powerful self from every possible angle. "You know... you can morph just some parts of your body to get stronger in those parts without changing your whole body."

"Good suggestion." Brainy grinned before making her arms' muscles grow almost twice their current size while also increasing the resistance of her lower back. By doing this, Brainy could bench-press over 30 tons with just a moderate effort.

After Brainy took a break (even with her powers, doing such an intense workout wasn't easy), Stretch started teaching her how to get back to her normal shape but with some changes. For starters, the elastic male taught her how to change into a teen version of herself, basically making herself a bit smaller and leaner. After a while of practicing, Brainy could go all the way from an older teen shape to the looks she had as a pup.

"Aw, you're adorable." Stretch smiled before turning his paw into a human-like hand to rub her belly.

"Stretch-O-Mutt, I may look like a pup but... oooooooooh... it feeeeeeels soooooooooooo goooooood." Brainy moaned and yipped in delight while Stretch continued, the elastic female enjoying this so much she was now offering her belly on purpose while wagging her tail.

Stretch then had an idea and morphed into a ball, bouncing in front of Brainy.

"Okay, if you ever need to disguise as a pup for a mission, you have to rehearse how to act like a normal pup. Get the ball!"

Brainy laughed and started playing with Stretch's spheric body; she didn't need to read his mind to know that, besides the whole 'training' thing, this was also Stretch's way to help her regain some of the fun she had missed while growing up. Even with her advanced intellect, Brainy just couldn't remember the last time she played like this, even when she really was the age she was currently disguised as.

They played like this for about an hour, until hearing Hot Dog's voice calling them from the ship's communication system.

"I hate to ruin your fun, but I thought you were teaching her new stuff, Stretch-O-Mutt, not reminding her how to do puppy things."

"Oh, you couldn't let them enjoy it a bit more, eh?" Tusky's voice was heard too, and it was obvious he didn't like Hot Dog messing around with Brainy and Stretch's fun.

Brainy sighed and stopped playing with the 'ball'. Stretch morphed back into his normal shape.

"It's fine, Tusky; Hot Dog is just being responsible and rational." Brainy looked back at Stretch. 'So... now I change back to my normal age's looks, right?"

"Yes, you do. Again, just imagine yourself as you normally look," Stretch told her ,before adding, "but don't make your legs as firm as normal; instead, make your paws and the lower part a bit softer."

Brainy shrugged and did as Stretch instructed her. Then, the elastic male did the same with his paws.

"I'm gonna teach you how to bounce without changing into a ball. Basically, you use your paws as springs, but making the rest of your legs stronger than usual so they can resist the bouncing." Stretch said before starting to bounce around Brainy. "This can help you move faster and jump higher than normal without needing to change your whole body."

Brainy smiled and did as Stretch told her; she got it wrong the first time, making the legs too weak and almost falling over her face, but Stretch caught her on time. Brainy covered her blush and then corrected her mistake, now having springy paws yet also firm, strong legs.

"Okay, now you chase after me." Stretch smiled before morphing his nose into a hand and stretching it to touch Brainy's nose. "Tag. You're it."

Brainy chuckled a bit and, after Stretch started bouncing around her again, this time much faster and higher than before, she went to chase after him. At first it was some relatively slow and soft bouncing, but soon they were bouncing all over the room at high speed, with Brainy right after him and almost touching him.

"Hey, why I'm only using my legs?" Brainy grinned when getting closer to Stretch; she morphed her nose into a hand just like he did previously, and touched his shoulder. "Tag, you are iII-IIIIIIIIT!"

Unfortunately, since Brainy was still a rookie, she hadn't mastered yet how to morph while bouncing, and moving her hand-nose to get Stretch made it to obstruct her own vision for a moment. Before Brainy could catch herself or use her mental powers to cut the bouncing, she literally tripped over her own paws and hit a nearby wall; by instinct, Brainy made her whole body as bouncy as possible to protect herself from pain, and this made her to bounce without any control all over the place, ricocheting on the walls, floor and ceiling at high speed.

"Brainy, change into a plastic goop!" Stretch yelled while trying to catch her. Brainy, again, acted by instinct, this time using her mental powers to read his mind and find exactly what shape he was talking about; Brainy then morphed into a semi-liquid, sticky state, and splatted herself against a wall.

"Nnngh... disgusting yet effective..." Brainy groaned while slowly getting back to her solid shape. Stretch held her paw once it was solid enough to get her attention and comfort the elastic female.

"Okay... Brainy, look at me, and try to make your body as solid as mine."

Brainy, again, obeyed him and, by touching his paw, got an idea about how much she needed to harden herself. A few moments later, she was back to normal.

"Thank you, Stretch-O-Mutt. For someone who claimed not to be cut for a teaching position, you are quite a good mentor."

"Heh... well, guess I'm just remembering all the times I messed up, and how I could have done it better." Stretch chuckled a bit, still holding her paw. "So, I'm teaching you the stuff I learned from my mistakes so you don't need to screw it up to learn this the hard way."

"Well, I certainly appreciate your efforts and how you're sharing your experience-acquired wisdom with me." Brainy smiled in a way that almost made Stretch to change into a melted plastic state himself. "And you know, I can give you some suggestions myself."

Brainy smiled and morphed one of her paws into a comb, using it to change his hairdo into a nicer one that certainly did improve his looks.

"There. If I can be a bit flattering myself, you certainly look very attractive." Brainy chuckled slightly.

"Heh... thanks... guess you must be right, because you're the expert in being attractive..." Stretch blushed a lot more when realizing what he just said. Then, the elastic dogs started staring at each other, both having small, goofy smiles.

"Get a room!" Hot Dog's voice was cut by a slapping sound. "Ow! Mammoth Mutt!"

"You get a muzzle, Hot Dog."

Brainy and Stretch chuckled nervously and looked apart while hearing the rest of the Star Dogs and Krypto chuckling at Mammoth Mutt's lecturing Hot Dog about respecting other dogs' feelings... and then heard Streaky chanting 'Mammoth slapped you' over and over again.

"Heh... I almost feel bad for Hot Dog." Stretch chuckled.

"Me too. That's why I left."

Stretch and Brainy gasped when finding out Ace was right behind them.

"How did... what... when..." Stretch stopped himself and sighed. "Right. You're Batman...'s dog."

"Partner. And yes."

Brainy grinned at this while making a mental note about later having a 'girl chat' with Mammoth Mutt... and then used her powers to literally send that note to the alien Chihuahua's brain, who answered immediately.

"_Okay. See you in my room in one hour. I'll bring the snacks!"_

Brainy rolled her eyes; it seemed she'd also have her first sleepover.


End file.
